Chapter 6 of 'Wrestling's Olympic Fight': Through a champion's eyes

Mar. 27, 2013

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The Register’s project tracking the International Olympic Committee’s decision about whether to include wrestling in the 2020 Games explains the perspective of one of America’s newest stars — 2012 freestyle gold medalist Jordan Burroughs.

==== OLYMPICS MOMENT 'WAY BIGGER THAN MYSELF' ====

As an elite wrestler, Jordan Burroughs has won match after match, event after event and a life-impacting gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London.

What he found out he’d won at the recent World Cup in Tehran, Iran — hard-earned respect.

“It was awesome. They love the sport of wrestling. It doesn’t really matter what country you’re from,” Burroughs said. “They wanted to be friends, take pictures, shake hands. They were chanting my name. Instead of JOR-den, it was jor-DON, jor-DON, jor-DON.

The fight to maintain wrestling’s spot in the 2020 Olympics and beyond has accomplished what politics, religion or any other topic could — bringing together countries such as Iran, Russia and the United States.

In Iran, Americans were routinely given standing ovations after wins. The team also shook hands and posed for pictures with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the country’s president.

Iranians knew about Burroughs, in ways American fans might not recreate if a Middle Eastern star competed on U.S. soil.

The experience reinforced what Olympic wrestling meant to Burroughs — and far reaches of the world.

“The gold medal was way bigger than myself,” Burroughs said.

Here’s the top of the story I wrote about Burroughs on the day he won his gold last August …

LONDON — Draped in an American flag, Jordan Burroughs climbed over a railing in Friday in section 410 of the ExCel Center in search of his family — an Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medal jangling along for the ride.

Burroughs had just dominated Iran's Sadegh Goudarzi, who was appearing in his third straight world-level final, in front of a sellout crowd of 6,500.

The man with Olympic-sized expectations built into his Twitter handle — @alliseeisgold — delivered on his promise of winning a gold medal at 163 pounds during the London Games. He pocketed a $250,000 bonus from a U.S. wrestling support group, while placing a few more brush strokes on his status as the most dominant man in his sport after a 2011 world championship.

Bring on more, the 24-year-old Burroughs said.

Bring on John Smith’s unequaled run of six straight world titles. Bring on the Queen of England (more on that in a minute). Bring on the American media, the whole lot of them.

‘We don't get a lot of exposure as a sport,” said Burroughs, now twice-crowned world champion a scant 15 months out of college. “For me, I’m trying to be that guy who can put us on ESPN. Poker’s on ESPN more than wrestling is.

“So I think I just got a Royal Flush.”

==== OLYMPIC MEDALIST ON EVOLUTION, EMOTION OF THE SPORT ====

Wisconsin coach Barry Davis, an Olympic and world silver medalist and former NCAA champion at Iowa, gave two thumbs-up for the NCAA decision to match up Kyle Dake and David Taylor in the final match of Saturday’s NCAA championship finals.

Davis said officials should build on the idea, moving ahead.

Dake, who won his fourth title at an unprecedented fourth weight for Cornell, stopped defending Hodge Trophy winner David Taylor of Penn State, 5-4. NCAA decision-makers shifted the order of weight classes to build drama for the anticipated match on live, national television.

“I liked that. What I like about that is, like a main feature in an MMA (mixed martial arts) fight, you save the best for last,” Davis said. “Like college football bowl games, are you going to play the national championship game in the middle of the season?

“I think it’s a great idea.”

In the future, Davis said the concept could be tweaked to fit modern habits and interests.

“What about this?” said Davis, clearly in mid-brainstorm. “Next year, if there’s not a clear match like that, we’re not sure what weight is going to go first. We ask fans, what match do you want to see last? Then you get people Tweeting, sending stuff to ESPN, getting involved and showing how much interest there is.

“And you get the fans involved. They do it with Dancing With The Stars, vote on this, vote on that. Kids love that. That’s where society’s going right now.”

Davis enjoyed the match between two of the NCAA’s all-time bests.

“Taylor tried to push him out of bounds and be Johnny Tough Guy there one time, but Dake kept his poise,” Davis said. “I didn’t see Dake flinch one time.”

Here’s Dake following the match …

==

As Davis and I talked, too, about the Register’s Olympic project, he suggested an idea.

“You want to show what wrestling is?” Davis said. “Show these three videos.”

So we will.

Champion …

Courage …

Character …

Return to the “Wrestling’s Olympic Fight” page from now until the IOC’s final vote for continued coverage of the story.

For coverage ideas, to submit videos or other content, etc., contact me at … brmiller@dmreg.com